coke's 'fans first' approach in social communities

Coke’s “Fans First” Approach in Social CommunitiesMichael DonnellyGroup Director, Worldwide Interactive Marketing

How many Social Media “Experts” are in the house?

Working from the center…

History of “painting the town red”…

1.5 BILLION SERVINGS A

DAY

our home page isn’t just coke.com, it

is google.com

and today, I’d say…

our home page isn’t just coke.com, it is

google.com and

hyves.nl and

twitter.com and

youtube.com and

facebook.com and

studiVZ.net

Consumers remind us every day that Coke is THEIR brand…

Facebook “2 Billion photo uploads a month - nearly 70 million a day…” USA TODAY 8/09

On Facebook alone we’ve got:- 4,600+ photos- 95+ videos- 500,000+ “likes”*- 90,000+ “comments”* (*just in the last 6 months)

CONVERSATION CLOUD FOR TOP TERMS MENTIONED ON FB COCA-COLA FAN PAGE(SEPTEMBER 2009)

5000 Mentions a Day - Here is a taste of what they are saying…

N = 1,276 posts**non-english language posts removedSource: Analysis of Facebook for Sept 1st – 30th 2009

Availability

Ideas/Suggestion

s

Advertising

“Biggest Fan”

Other Coke

Products

General Comments

Low Post

Volume

High Post

Volume

Positive Conversation Tones

Negative Conversation Tones

General comments about the brand and other Coke products are top topics…

“Coca-Cola is the best drink!!!! I love it...”

“ALWAYS COCA-COLA!! funny add from Coca-Cola with Grant Theft Auto!”

“. . . Bring back the glass bottle it makes a difference”

“Anyone know if 'Kosher Coke' is available in Colorado??”

“I adore cola! I can drink it every day :D”

Consumption Habits/Addicted

“i am the # 1 fan. just ask anyone who knows me.”

“DIET COKE IS WHERE IT'S AT YA'LL!!!! :)”

And they are producing GREAT Content - for the LOVE of THEIR Brand

Sometimes we ask for it…

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• Where have you had a Coke lately?

“It was taken from the peak of the Iztaccihuatl, Mexico's third highest mountain. [At 5,230m... you can guess why was the bottle half-full! :-)]

“Les Grand Montets near Mont Blanc French Alps 3275m”

“NEVADO DEL TOLIMA KOLOMBIA 5.800 MTS...CHARLYTOONS”

120 Photos of Your Next Coke…

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5,800 Times of day to enjoy a Coke…

13

Our Fan Focused approach has yielded a Highly Engaged fan community…

INTERACTIONS PER POST

Source: FB Fan Page Analysis , Sept 2009*Interactions = likes + comments

User generated content Interactions* Photo Video

Coke 73,391 3,142 77

Brand A 34,094 0 0

Brand B 10,873 0 84

Brand C 6,962 0 0

Brand D 5,092 134 4

Coke Brand A Brand B Brand C Brand D0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

Coke fans interact with each other, and the brand, more than they do on any other top brand fan pages.

In the past – We were not building sustainable relationships

Traditional Campaigns start from zero and abandon the audience they’ve amassed upon completion. Campaigns based on earning Sustainable Relationships leverage the existing audience and grow it for future use.

Traditional CampaignsCampaigns Based onEarning Sustainable Relationships

Time Time

Fan

s/F

ollo

ws/

Frie

nds

Fan

s/F

ollo

ws/

Frie

nds

Our “Fans First” Approach: We will be Everywhere Our Consumers are in an Authentic “Member of the Community – Non BIG Brand Way”

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Our approach is designed to foster equitable engagement to earn sustainable relationships that are authentic, delightful and

reciprocal.

Being a Fan, Friend or Follower does not mean that they opted in to have advertising blasted at them.

Enabling Fans to Comment, Upload and Consume THEIR own consumer

generated brand related content

Strategically targeted messaging insupport of our brand objectives

Majority of our efforts

Our “less about us-more about them” approach is getting noticed

Missed Opportunity... Pepsi. The company makes a disappointing showing on Facebook…has 250,000 fans, a fraction of rival Coke's. The company mostly uses it as a channel for pumping out updates of marketing activities.

MSNBC on 11/30/09

Coca-Cola “official” Social Communities…

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this is all great, but…

how do we create compelling content in these online venues that celebrates the spirit of our brand and drives intent?

The Coca-Cola Happiness Machine…

Vitamin Water’s Flavor Creator…

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flavor creator lab environment within the vitaminwater facebook fan page

Determined flavor via conversation mining & ranking…

cloud tagging- shows the ranking of flavors and allows you to navigate for more information

Flavor voting…

vote on a single flavor, flavor combinations or use the ‘wild card’ tovote for a flavor that didn’t make the top ten

Gaming determined functional benefit… do you need more energy?

Label design contest - a real-time collaborative workspace…

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The results…

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7+ minutes of engagement per app session

174% increase in fans

tens of thousands of total votes

40K unique label designers

Say hello to…connect

• black cherry-lime

• caffeine + 8 key nutrients

• made by fans, for fans on

• in stores march 1st

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So, We are all aboutFishing Where the Fish are…

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Integrating Campaigns with Common Social Solutions…

32

Optimizing Functionality that Already Exists…

33

Creating New Ones if Necessary…

34

Clear Principles are a must to insure everyone is aligned…

http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/socialmedia

Finally, Some Quick Lessons Learned…• SMM is a tactic and should always be in support of brand

objectives

• These platforms change frequently and can be very disruptive

• Keep it simple and intuitive – fewer objectives is better and shorten users’ paths at every opportunity

• Silly to start from zero…

• “Viral” shouldn’t BE your strategy – just part of a comprehensive plan

• Clear the Legal hurdles first – this is new for everyone so legitimate questions arise around every corner

• Always work with pros…There is no “sticking your toe in the water”

• Each new Community is an entirely new market and should be treated as such

• Moderation is a must!

What’s Next…

• “Fans First” will continue to be our compass

• Continue building Common Solutions to Amplify our Global & Local campaigns

• More Brands on More Platforms

• We will continue to Test, Learn, Share, SCALE & REPEAT…Again, and Again, and Again

Questions?